Category: Volkswagen

I’ll get this right out of the way: at GCFSB, we don’t like “stanced” cars. Okay, so what is this Cabrio doing here? Well, as we’ve done before, occasionally there are cars worth taking a look at because perhaps they can be saved. This Cabrio is a good case in point; a lower mileage example with a clean VR6 swap, but riding a little too low for most people’s taste. No problem, it’s supported by air, so you can crank it up a bit:

This past week, I wrote up a heavily modded Corrado VR6 that pretty much universally was disliked. As Corrados go, I don’t even feel that car was too extreme, but in the highly individualized world of modified Volkswagens I also get that not everyone like what others have done. That’s why, for the most part, most enthusiasts would like to start with a clean slate; an original example of what drew them to the car in the first place. Today I found two better examples of original (or, mostly original anyway) Corrados, one each in G60 or VR6 form. What’s your flavor? Let’s take a look at the G60 first:

Have you ever wanted a Mk1 GTI? I have since about 6th grade. My 2.0’d Caddy is as close as I’ve gotten, but some day the original German hot hatch will inhabit my car barn (so will another Caddy). If the car barn ever happens, it would be a good indicator that I have the kind of money where I can drop $10k on a GTI and feel good about it. Considering how GTI prices have been creeping up these past few years, getting this one for that price suddenly seems reasonable. Seriously, start by looking at the undercarriage; it’s painfully immaculate. Then you pull back to the clean-but-unique exterior and tip your head in to a tastefully improved cabin, and you’re looking at a GTI that is unhyperbolically listed as “possibly best in state.” It might be the best period.

There aren’t many times that I’d seriously consider buying a set of wheels and building a car around them, but this may be one of those times. One of the best looking wheel designs in Volkswagen history was certainly when they handed the reigns over to Speedline to make the Corrado VR6 wheels. Unlike the typical BBS mesh wheels we had gotten on performance Volkswagens for some time, Speedline made a race-inspired chunky 5 spoke that was just perfect. Every time I see a Corrado, like yesterday’s Supercharged VR6 Corrado, I always miss the Speedline wheels when they’ve been replaced. Of course, they were only 15″ wheels, and the Corrado does look better with slightly larger designs. Some enterprising individuals therefore took it upon themselves to commission Speedline to do a special build of a 17″ version of the Corrado wheels. Sound crazy? Crazy wonderful!

While it wasn’t an overwhelming sales success and a large percentage of the problem seemed to be the somewhat polarizing looks, I always preferred the look of the B3 Passat to the Quantum it replaced and the facelifted B4 that succeeded it. I thought the smooth, grill-less look was neat and clean; I liked the GTi-spec 2.0 16V motor, and the original chin spoiler reminded me of the first GTi’s lip. There aren’t many options for modifying these cars though, but one of the popular options – albeit rare – was to install the Hella DE projector light conversion. They’re hard to come by, but there’s a set on Ebay today:

Last night, I posted a clean Corrado VR6 with some questionable wheels on our Facebook Fanpage. These Corrados, perhaps even more than their GTi cousins, seem to draw out the watercooled tuning crowd and go through many different mutations. Also like their cousins, it’s pretty rare to see them in stock condition, especially good stock condition. Well, today proves that point, so to speak; this Corrado is definitely not stock, but it certainly looks pretty interesting, so I thought it was worth a look. Plus, it’s been supercharged – a different sort of forcing induction than the VR6-swapped Turbo GTis from the other day. Painted fetching BMW Laguna Seca Blue, this Corrado looks ready for the show circuit:

For those who may have missed it, one of GCFSB’s own, Dan, recently purchased a 1989 Volkswagen Jetta GLI 16V. Dan’s car is a work in progress, but for less than $3,000 proves to be solid value and a good basis to undertake some modifications to make it into a fun daily driver. He has already started work on personalizing it, so stayed tuned for updates in the near future. This Jetta GLI is of the same vintage with around the same mileage as Dan’s car. While it just hit 200,000 miles, it looks as if it could have done half of that.

As the original “hot hatch”, it’s not much of a surprise that the Mk.1 GTi is also a popular choice as a race car. Stripped out and stiffened up, these pocket rockets get even more potent around a track and are very entertaining to drive. Best of all, there’s a serious aftermarket community that supports them and they’re quite economical to run compared to some of their other German brethren. While they’re a bit long in the tooth, the GTis are still winning three decades on and still look great. Today I’ve got two different track-oriented GTis to chose from – from mild to wild. Let’s start with the more streetable version:

Hang on for the ride, folks. I have not one, not two, but six Mk.2 GTis to cover here. Like all good Mk.2 GTis, none of these cars is stock, so you’re going to have to pick you poison. From engine mods to suspension, interior and exterior mods, we’ve got it all here – but don’t judge a book, because I don’t think they’re all bad. Let’s start with the one I think it the strongest example – a neat grey example with a VR6 swap:

Last week, I popped a quick ad up on our for a stock Mk. IV GTi 337 Edition. Not only are GTis in just about any form rare to find stock once the warranty in over, but in the case of the 337 and 20th Anniversary Edition GTis, it is nearly impossible to find one that hasn’t been modified to death. Lucky for us, we can take a closer look at this 337 because it failed to sell and was relisted this week. The 337 was an attempt by Volkswagen to bring the GTi back towards its roots; the VR6s made a great noise and were more refined highway cruisers, but the basis of the GTi was back in those peaky 4 cylinders that combined economy, light weight and performance into defining the hot hatch category. In that light, Volkswagen equipped the 337 – called the 25th Anniversary edition in Europe – with the 1.8T motor now churning out 180 hp coupled to a 6-speed manual gearbox. To keep weight down but looks up, the 337 received specially painted BBS RC wheels with a revised sport suspension and larger brakes. Additionally, the 337 came with a unique body kit and some awesome Recaro seats that again evoked memories of the 16V GTis and you could get it in any color you wanted – as long as it was Reflex Silver:

Subscribe to Our Site

Get Our Daily Email With The Latest Finds! Your email will not be sold or spammed, we promise!

Categories

Categories

Browse the Archives

Browse the Archives

Disclaimers

We re-post public classified advertisements. As a practice we rehost images and ad copy to preserve the listing for future reference. If you would like additional attribution for your work, or wish to remove your listing from our site, we are happy to accommodate. Please email us: germancarsforsaleblog@gmail.com

Please note we do not represent these vehicles and our opinion on these cars has no guarantee or warranty. We are not responsible for these items in any way. Estimates on price and values expressed in our posts are solely the opinion of the writers. Thank you for your understanding.